Academic

Dear Jim,

Thank you so much for speaking to my class last Thursday. Your talk about your own experiences tied in wonderfully with our book for that day--William Styron's "Darkness Visible: A Memoir of Madness"--as well as with our broader theme of this Humanities Division course in examining the connections between the humanities, literature, illness, and the world of medicine.

I so do appreciate your taking the time to do this, especially as my class followed directly upon the completion of a class of your own in the School of Law. I do hope that one day I can return the favor and speak to one of your classes on a subject I have studied or have personal knowledge of. One of the things I have always loved about the academy is that most of us are quite happy to be able to speak to each other's classes--I used to enjoy it every year when Dee Akers was teaching his seminar to third-year law students on Technology and the Law and asked me to talk about the history of technological change and development and to highlight some of the ways in which technology came to involve legal issues and questions. Part of what is so nice about this is that we just do it--if the more than two hours you spent with us were calculated into "billable minutes" I'm afraid that I'd have to ask the President and the Provost to siphon off some of the funds being lavished on people who have left the university and seemingly received golden parachutes for doing so! This does make me wonder--do you happen to know how I could get one of those deals?!?

Seriously Jim, I am most grateful that my good colleague "in the office next door" took the time and trouble to speak with us last Thursday. Would you be good enough to share your friend Elyn's email address with me? I should very much like to write her a bit about what I learn from her book, which I am so glad you told me about. I also will look forward to speaking with you again and to getting to know you. I was intrigued when you said you loved classical music "before Beethoven." I too love early music--I must tell you about the concerts I love attending at The Cloisters in New York City--but I also love many of the 19th century composers, with Antonin Dvorak a particular favorite. I am already looking forward to our talks about music and about much else.

Again, thank you Jim--you made a wonderful presentation to our class and I am most grateful.

Sincerely yours,

Allen Share

Dr. Allen J. Share

Distinguished Teaching Professor

Division of Humanities

University of Louisville

303 Bingham Humanities Building

Louisville, Kentucky 40292